Blackmailed by Betty (Jughead Jones III)

Heart of Darkness Part One

After chickening out the past few days about confronting Jughead I ended up avoiding him which was a lot harder when he was suddenly hanging out with all my friends again. There wasn't any corner where the Scooby Gang wasn't gossiping about the Blossom murder. I had gotten at least twenty messages from Veronica about what had happened since she hadn't seen me since the drive in.

Ronnie - I swear Alex you better answer me before I come to your house

Ronnie - Girl I know you can see these you don't even know how to turn off your read receipts

Ronnie - Its been days you can't just avoid us all until this whole thing passes because for all we know this could last for the rest of our lives. What if Betty marries your brother? How will you stay away from all of that?

"I knew I could catch you like that." I nearly jumped out of my skin when Veronica snatched the phone out of my hand. "Why have you been hiding from everyone? Even Archie is concerned and he never talks about you at school."

"Veronica I couldn't do it. I chickened out and didn't talk to Jughead because I was too scared of Betty. Archie can be concerned all he wants but until he says something to me he clearly doesn't care as much as you all think he does."

"Why do you think that?" I heard a voice from behind me say and saw my brother. "You really think I don't care about you?"

"See Veronica this is exactly what I was trying to avoid! Now everything is gonna go wrong." My breathing was getting heavier and I started to panic as I looked around praying Betty didn't see me with my brother. "I have to go."

"Alex you aren't going anywhere until you tell me what the heck is going on." Archie said grabbing my wrist and pulling me back towards the two of them. "There has to be some sort of explanation for all this. You've been avoiding everyone and now you aren't even answering messages. People are concerned and do you know how many times I've had to make up excuses for you?"

"Arch calm down." Ronnie said putting a hand on his bicep trying to calm him down.

"No Veronica I need to know what's going on!"

"I don't think you do." She said removing his hand from my arm and pulling me back towards her.

"That means you know! Ronnie I've been asking everyone for days if they knew what was going on with my sister and this whole time you knew and weren't telling me?" There was a small crowd forming around the three of them which sadly included a certain blonde and crowned boy.

"Betty knew too and if you heard that end you wouldn't be acting nearly as rude to your own sister!" I shouted pushing past everyone and walking all the way to the football field. Not caring that Veronica had my phone or that my biggest secret was about to come out I just needed air.

"Well you're the last person who I expected to see here." Looking up there stood Reggie Mantle. "You don't really strike me as a football fan."

"I didn't really strike you as the kind to skip class but I guess we all learned something about each other today." He stepped closer and sat down near me. "Why are you up here really Reggie? I know you and my brother aren't exactly on friendship terms so there's no way he sent you."

"Actually I was walking past that crowd and I saw you run away. Figured you didn't want to talk to your friends but you might need someone to cheer you up."

"Reggie you punched my brother and make fun of my best friend every day. I'm almost positive that you have no way to cheer me up."

"I'm really sorry about all that. I just think I was a little jealous of all the attention the two of them manage to get even when they screw up. Some people just get everything they want and leave the rest of us in the dust." When I looked over at him he looked genuinely sad.

"You're one of the most popular guys at this school. You play varsity football and get all the girls. What could you possibly be depressed about?"

"Because there's this girl. I've had a crush on her since grade school, but she spends all her time with those two and I've never been able to actually work up the courage to talk to her since the two of them were always there."

"If it's Betty Cooper you're talking to the wrong girl because she is a bitch."

"Actually it's you. I've always kind of admired how much you really don't care what other people think about you. You would rather sit at Pops and read a book than go to one of Cheryl's parties and too many of us would never sacrifice our reputation for what we really want."

"Reggie you've managed to cheer me up. I just wish you had told me this years ago because all those years ago I had a crush on you two. You probably forgot valentines day in the sixth grade but I was crushed when no one got me a card or anything but you showed up." I said as I slid closer to him. "You brought me a Tigger plushie holding a card and I was sold."

"I can't believe you remember that." He said with a laugh.

"I can't believe I still have it on my bed."

"You don't!"

"I do. It reminded me that there was a time someone thought of me when no one else did. And I think about it every day when I'm getting bullied and blackmailed."

"Well how about we forget all that and get a shake together after practice today?"

"Sure why not?"